Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton (32) heads to first base after hitting a RBI double against the Los Angeles Angels during a September game. Team president Nolan Ryan thought quitting tobacco hurt Hamilton. / Jim Cowsert, US Presswire

by Reid Cherner, USA TODAY

by Reid Cherner, USA TODAY

Team president Nolan Ryan disputes that Josh Hamilton quit on the Texas Rangers but wished he had waited to quit on other things.

"His timing on quitting smokeless tobacco couldn't have been worse," Ryan said in an interview on ESPN Dallas 103. "You would've like to have thought that if he was going to do that that he would've done it in the offseason or waited until this offseason to do it. So the drastic effect that it had on him and the year that he was having up to that point in time when he did quit, you'd have liked that he would've taken a different approach to that."

Hamilton, who started the season in Triple Crown form, ended up hitting .285 with 128 RBI and 43 home runs.

He was 0-for-4 in the elimination playoff game against Baltimore. In the final regular season game he dropped a fly ball against Oakland.

Ryan did say that he had "no reason to think he quit (on the team) but "it didn't go well. It didn't look good and only Josh knows what was in his heart and what was in his mind."